Toronto police Thursday announced that an international pornography and child sex abuse investigation has led to more than 100 arrests in Canada and over 340 worldwide,
CBC News reported.
Authorities said the probe, which spanned six continents, led to the rescue of 386 children from situations in which they were at risk of harm.
Close to 30 police officers from across Ontario province and the United States, Mexico, Australia, and Spain were in attendance at Toronto police headquarters for Thursday’s announcement,
the Toronto Star reported.
The investigation centered on a probe of a Toronto firm called Azovfilms.com and its owner Brian Way. Way, 41, who is currently in custody, faces close to two dozen charges — among them making, selling and exporting explicit images of boys who included teenagers and toddlers.
The products sold by the company, including videos and pictures, were allegedly edited and packaged at his warehouse in Toronto.
Azovfilms.com purported to inform customers that the footage was legal in Canada and the United States because it was made for artistic rather than pornographic purposes. Altogether, 45 terabytes of child pornography were seized, authorities said — a stack of paper that would stretch to the height of 15 CN Towers.
Hundreds of thousands of the images found featured “horrific acts of sexual abuse — some of the worst” that investigating officers have seen, according to Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins, head of the Toronto police department’s sex crimes unit.
Way’s Canadian clients allegedly included a retired Nova Scotia high-school principal, a Chatham hockey coach and a Boy Scout leader and priest in Quebec. Seventy-six people were arrested in the United States, including educators, medical professionals and police officers.
The Postal Inspection Service contributed to the probe, along with investigators in Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Spain, and Hong Kong, CBC News reported.
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